Session 4 Recap
The party licked their wounds after the encounter with The Dent and took camp for a few days. Hoppah showed the gang how to hunt down herbs and make healing potions. Some took to it better than others. Jove proved himself to be a natural. Aspen spied on some cultists and found that their stronghold may be underground. The leader of the group saw Aspen and warned her:
-Through canoloth filled caverns by the Void.
Shine confidently left, past gloom incarnate.
Slowly, softly, carefully through the tunnels myoid.
Bring a valuable token of peace to our gate.
Then give us blood and come on in!!-
Xavenas had left a scroll of sending and the party decided to use it to tell someone back in Bryn that they may have discovered the location of the Void Cult stronghold. They decided that T’Darrel’s Steve, the leader of the Cult of Jacquarianism, was exactly the person to share this with. Interestingly enough, “Steve” became really excited upon the news. He explained he’d share that with the Matriarch, and they’d become “rich heroes.”
The Hornet then revealed himself and the Void Cult are allied with his Plati Khulda. The cult’s potential destruction hurts the thieves’ guild and more importantly, his personal goal. The Hornet can’t get himself and his beloved Sara off of “this shithole of a world” without a tuning fork and the Void Cult leader – The Librarian.
The Hornet told the party that the Plati Khulda could offer them “much more” than whatever the Company promised and gave the candle of invocation as a sign of “what things were to come.” The party had to get the mask out of the Forest of Dolls and bring it to the thieves’ guild in Bam if they wished to take him up on his offer. The Hornet said he had another group in the Forest that would be helping them through. He then warned the Plati Khulda and the Void Cult about the incoming forces. Hopefully they’d all meet up again later.
The Dent would be back soon so a safe path along Immanuel’s Promenade seemed best. Hoppah and Jove used a night at a tower to investigate its construction and defenses better. The harengon duo were left with a low ranking “Red Shirt” of the Company’s Red Coat Army. This know-it-all proved to be a true test….of their patience…but that was about it. Jove and Hoppah found some gun powder and a key structural weak point in the tower’s design. An important detail if the party were ever in the need of a scroll of reincarnate…or feeling a little destructive.
The party continued along Immanuel’s Promenade, seeing nothing but the usual birds, owls, squirrels and other critters along the way. They took the road right up to what seemed like a “doorway” built into the thick, magically shifting woods of the Forest of Dolls. T’Darrel punched the door at Hoppah’s goading and was damaged by the magicks that protected it.
The Party then noticed the archway was covered in strange, unrecognizable glyphs. There seemed to be 29 winged creatures that were depicted flying and answering to one larger winged creature. All seemed to be feminine. Some parts on the door were carved in an old, lost dialect of elven. Aspen noticed a list of names … and her own listed. There also was a handprint on the door. Hoppah suggested Aspen put her hand in it. The idea worked and the woods opened.
The names listed were:
Auriel Hildr
Bolt
Gudhur Sigrún
Grimgrdh Hjoerthrimul
Vesna Hithorn
Tuc Róta
Goendul Kaura
Sama Hrist
Aerin Thornwin
Sirrine Galaadon
Mary Hervoer
Mist Tallwood
Herja Oelrun
Mary Ortlind Brynhild
Herthoegn Alvilda
Vera Galaadon
Hermu Sveidhr
Hjalmthrimul Sigurdrif
Skaga Tallwood
Randmey Randgridhur
Skegjoeld Reginleif Ouskmey
Thrudur Svipul
Tangnidhr Sigrún
Thrima Skalmoeld Blotlokur
Skoegutl Visna Sangridhur
Voglind Sverdhgaldr
Svava
Thoegn Valgunth Lidgaendi
Aspen Galaadon
The party then entered and were promptly swallowed by the Forest of Dolls. Exits back out, through, or above the woods looked magically impossible as the woods shifted and swallowed everything. Time seemed to be difficult to track here and it was always pitch black night. Bat, ravens, and spiders littered a forest covered in webs and a pink, purple fog. Dolls hung from almost every other tree.
Jove discovered that a tree trunk was actually a goliath longlegs. Before the stumbling party could prepare for combat, a large skin drum ripped through the forest and a strange chant followed. Three voices were chanting the names written on the forest’s door. The voices also frequently chanted the words Ainheria, Futha, Reginleif, and Arevay. The party then saw the Sisters of the Black Church before they vanished suddenly. When the song ended, the party heard screaming coming from the east and a giant battle coming from the west.
The party chose to push on northward, following the road but going in what seemed to be like loops. The weather of the forest changed from incredibly cold to unbearably, dangerously warm in about half an hour or so. After going in a few hot, loops they gave up and chose to follow the screaming voices to the east.
Eventually, the party stumbled upon another road. They began following it. It eventually magically bent, changing their path of travel westward. They then came across an altar. The altar was carved to looked like a strange, amorphous worm like figure in tattered robes. Aspen was able to “open” this altar too, revealing a scroll and potion. The potion was identified to be the Milk of a Great One. The scroll was a small portion of a play called The King of Citragadda. The scroll also had a drawing of the altar creature, but more upright and a little more humanoid in nature.
The gang then prepared for their first, full night in the Forest of Dolls. Things of note as we left off:
1. Hoppah, Aspen, and Jove were cursed with an insanity condition for 24 hours.). So long as they are cursed with this condition, they will experience vivid hallucinations and will have disadvantage on Ability Checks.
2. Aspen lost 2 max HP.
3. T’Darrel has 1 level of exhaustion. Aspen has 2 levels of exhaustion
4. Hoppah heard more screaming. This time it was coming from the west though.
Cesilda’s Song
Along the shore a broken obelisk stands,
Where no sun shines for the moorlands,
The wet winds roar
In Carcosa.
Odd is the night where twin black stars dance,
And odd are the echoes of the Ambassador's trance,
But odder still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the victorious Nephal shall sing,
Where lays the grave of the last elf king,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song in my soul, my voice is dead,
Gone now, forever unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
Souls are drank, blood is spilled
With sufficient tribute, the Chained King is filled
An everlasting play rages
In Carcosa
—"Ceslida's Song" in The King of Citragadda Act 5, Scene 2
Milk of a Great One
Potion, very rare
A potion of new beginnings and imperceptible potential. What appears to be strands of fate float around in a green, cloudy, glowing liquid. The strands randomly squirm, disappear, and reappear within the thick liquid. A drop tastes sour and reveals it also begins some sort of mutation into a stronger version of yourself.
When you drink this green liquid, it cures you of poison, removes the blinded and deafened conditions from you, and ends one effect reducing your Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution score. Other effects are currently unknown
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/4414947-milk-of-a-great-one
